THE PERCEPTION OF THE “MIGRANT THREAT” IN CROATIAN GORSKI KOTAR BY THE LOCALS AND MIGRANTS THROUGH THE PRISM OF VISIBILITY AND INVISIBILITY.
Focused on the aftermath of the so-called migrant crisis of 2014 in the Croatian region of Gorski Kotar, this paper presents an analysis of the processes involved in constructing the idea of the “migrant threat” both among the locals whose settlements, towns and villages lie on the path of the peopl...
| Publicado en: | Croatian Journal of Ethnology & Folklore Research / Narodna Umjetnost Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 77 - 95 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Institute of Ethnology & Folklore Research
2024
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | Focused on the aftermath of the so-called migrant crisis of 2014 in the Croatian region of Gorski Kotar, this paper presents an analysis of the processes involved in constructing the idea of the “migrant threat” both among the locals whose settlements, towns and villages lie on the path of the people on the move, as well as among the migrants themselves traversing that area. More specifically, we analyze juxtaposed perceptions of threat. For the locals, the threat seems to stem from the visibility of migrants (their presence in a sparsely populated region) layered with the perception of their own invisibility as a result of economic and infrastructural disregard by the state, as well as of the lack of greater military activities at the border. For the migrants, the threat comes from the possibly highly dangerous visibility enforced by different kinds of surveillance technologies, making them vulnerable to documented strategies of expulsion. The paper employs ethnographic fieldwork and a visual analysis of migrant self-representation online to underline the importance of studying migration from an integrated point of view which includes both local and migrant visual and narrative articulation of the same (border) space between the Schengen area and “the other space”. Based on interviews, a review of the socio-political, economic, and cultural aspects of migration today, and a visual analysis of migrant self-representation practices, we show that different spheres of migration (in)visibility cannot be separated. Fokusiran na posljedice tzv. migrantske krize iz 2014. godine u Gorskom kotaru u Hrvatskoj, rad analizira procese koji su uključeni u konstruiranje ideje o “migrantskoj prijetnji” među lokalnim stanovništvom čija naselja, gradovi i sela leže na putu ljudi u pokretu, kao i samih migranata koji tim područjem prolaze. Konkretnije, analiziramo jukstaponirane percepcije prijetnje. Dok se “lokalnoj strani” čini da prijetnja proizlazi iz vidljivosti migranata (prisutnost u regiji s rijetkom naseljenošću) uz percepciju vlastite nevidljivosti u kontekstu ekonomskog i infrastrukturnog zanemarivanja države, kao i od nepostojanja jačih vojnih aktivnosti na granicama, za migrante prijetnja dolazi od potencijala veoma opasne vidljivosti, pri čemu su suočeni s različitim vrstama tehnologija nadzora što ih čini ranjivima na dobro dokumentirane strategije protjerivanja. U radu se koriste etnografsko istraživanje i vizualna analiza samoreprezentacije migranata na internetu kako bi se naglasila važnost međusobno povezanog proučavanja migracija uključivanjem lokalne i migrantske vizualne i narativne artikulacije istog (graničnog) prostora između schengenske Europe i “drugog prostora”. Provođenjem intervjua, razmatranjem sociopolitičkih, ekonomskih i kulturnih aspekata današnjih migracija te vizualnom analizom praksi samoreprezentacije migranata, pokazujemo nemogućnost razdvajanja različitih sfera migracijske (ne)vidljivosti. |
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